Amanda and Joe Marcus look through old news clippings that their mother has saved of their 1998 interview with former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The siblings interviewed Gorbachev when he was in El Paso to speak at a fundraiser for the El Paso Holocaust Museum and Study Center in 1998. Gorbachev reunited with the youths this weekend, as he prepares to speak in Ju&#225;rez today as part of Ju&#225;rez Competitiva.

El Paso natives Joe and Amanda Marcus were just kids when they got to meet former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev, but the brief meeting left a lasting impression.

This weekend, the two, now in their 20s, got to briefly relive the experience.

Gorbachev arrived in El Paso on Saturday and will speak at Juárez Competitiva today as one of the event's keynote speakers.

Gorbachev is scheduled to speak at 3:30 p.m. today at the Centro Cultural Paso Del Norte Convention Center in Juárez. The free event is sold out. Attendees are urged to show up at the event no later than 2:30 p.m. because security measures will be tight.

David Marcus, the pair's father, originally brought Gorbachev to El Paso to speak at a fundraising event for the El Paso Holocaust Museum and Study Center in October 1998.

He kept in touch with the former Soviet leader's business agent and was instrumental in bringing him back for his current speaking engagement.

The younger Marcuses got to do an informal interview with Gorbachev back in 1998. Joe, then 14, asked Gorbachev what his opinion of then Russian President Boris Yeltsin was.

Joe Marcus, now 27 and an Internet marketing analyst living in Venice Beach, Calif., said Gorbachev was initially skeptical that a teenager would actually be interested in that.

"I told him I watched the news every day," Joe Marcus said.

Joe Marcus said that the brief meeting 13 years ago was influential in him picking what he ended up studying at the University of Texas at Austin. He earned a bachelor's degree in history with an emphasis on U.

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S.-Soviet relations in the 20th century and a minor in math.

Gorbachev, his Russian entourage, the Marcus family, Competitiva organizers and some political leaders from both El Paso and Juárez had dinner Saturday night at Cafe Central. The two younger Marcuses flew back to El Paso to take part.

Joe Marcus said he didn't have much time to talk to the former Soviet leader on Saturday, but told him about what he ended up studying in college.

"I think I impressed him," Joe Marcus said. "I told him I didn't fully understand my question then, but now I do. I made all the Russians laugh."

Amanda Marcus, now 23, declined to be interviewed for this story, but 13 years ago she asked Gorbachev about the "troubles" facing then U.S. President Bill Clinton revolving around intern Monica Lewinsky.

"It was kind of an infamous question," her brother said.

"It's followed her around since then," he added with a chuckle.

Joe Marcus said that Gorbachev agreed with his sister that the problem was a private matter between the Clintons and Lewinsky.

Amanda Marcus is now several months away from graduating from UT-Austin as a registered nurse.

Mother Jeryl Marcus said she was proud that her kids were able to come up with questions on their own in that long-past interview.

"What I enjoyed the most was being surprised by their questions," Jeryl Marcus remembered.

David Marcus served as board president for the Holocaust museum from 1996-2000. He brought in Gorbachev to help raise money for the museum and to increase its profile, he said.

The elder Marcus, a forensic accountant, continues to bring prominent nationally and internationally known speakers to El Paso. He brought former President Clinton to speak at another Holocaust museum fundraiser in 2001.

He has also brought former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger and paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve, among others, to El Paso to speak. He is bringing former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani also to be a speaker at the Competitiva next week.

"We gave (our kids) an education you can't buy at the best university in the world," David Marcus said. "We gave them exposure to world leaders and got them to interact with them. They got to see them as real human beings."

David Marcus and a security team picked up Gorbachev who arrived Saturday at El Paso International Airport on a private jet. Gorbachev lives in Moscow but travels about two weeks a year through the United States.

"His agent remembered El Paso's hospitality," Marcus said.

Gorbachev decided to spend three days in El Paso, relaxing between speaking engagements. His only public appearance will be the address at Juárez Competitiva.

"I had to convince him it was safe, that it would make a difference and be a good deed for Ciudad Juárez," Marcus said.